William F. Cody was an iconic showman whose “Wild West” thrilled audiences throughout North America and Europe from 1883 into the early 20th Century. Tall and handsome, legends of Cody the scout, Pony Express rider, and hunter populate his popular history chronicled in pulp fiction, biographies, autobiographies, and even in cinema. But in a series of letters between Cody and his Denver, Colorado doctor, emerges another side of Cody. In a fictionalized account catalyzed by a series of letter written between 1899 and Cody’s death in 1917, Scoggin crafts a relationship that becomes a whirlwind of self-discovery. Cody is trapped in his own myth. He aspires to be a successful businessman, but only manages to squander it on worthless projects, particularly land development and mining. The doctor, Dr. E.Y. Davidson, has his own issues. He finds himself in a form of exile having left a promising East Coast academic career to move to Colorado because of his wife’s health. He experiences personal tragedies, as well as a feeling of estrangement from his profession. He seeks and antidote to his cynicism and negativity in a culture of medicine in transition.
